Access Dimensions is an accounting platform to which you can export financial information from Operate. This guide provides information on how this export works and takes you through the steps you need to take every month, in order to run this export successfully. 

Every time a transaction takes place within Operate, it is recorded within the Accounts Receivable module. However, since Operate does not provide any accounting features other than the Accounts Receivable module, you would need to export your transactions to a dedicated application in order to update your accounts.

At the end of each month, one of your staff members would need to log into Operate, access the Access Dimensions Financial Export and export unbooked transactions. Operate will generate a .csv file containing your data. You would need to import this file into Access Dimensions in order to then use the data to keep your accounting up to date. 

This type of export is not real time and requires you to maintain a set of identical information within both systems in order for the export to run correctly.

This export contains Invoice and Credit Note lines. It does not contain AR payments. Please see the Export Payments section below for further information.

The downloadable .csv file contains the following columns: 

Operate calculates tax per Invoice / Credit Note line, not per total invoiced/credited amounts.
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​When the overall tax is slightly different to the additions of tax line by line, then Operate calculates the difference and adjusts it ._____________________________________

In the event that the export might fail or an error has been made the database can be restored from this back up.

Before exporting, check the Access Dimensions balance within and take note of it. When your export is completed, your balance should be the sum of your pre-export balance and the total that the exported transactions amount to.

The below elements need to be simultaneously maintained in both systems:

Ensure that the Operate Account ID (found in Member > Accounts) matches the account/customer name in Access Dimensions.

When you next run this export, please verify that any accounts created within the past month in Operate have also been created within Access Dimensions. You can see the new accounts by going to Member > Accounts, where you can create a list view that shows accounts created within the past month. You can then use this list to check every month. Here is how to filter your list view: 

Your Products also need to be identical in both systems. To retrieve a list of Operate Products, you can go to Space > Products and export the 'All Products' list view. When you next run an export, you can create a new list for products created within the past month, as shown for Accounts.

In Operate, you need to set up Payment GL Codes at the Organization level, under Settings > Organizations > GL Codes. Operate also has to have the 'GL Code' field populated on all Products, to match the ones in Access Dimensions. When you run the export for the first time or you add new products to either systems, please check Space > Products and edit any product that does not have a GL Code. You can use list views here as well to easily see which products don't have a GL code (you can add the GL Code column to the list - Please read the dedicated guide on Using List Views for more details).

In Operate, go to: Settings > General > Organizations > Taxes and edit the Standard VAT / Tax Rate. Here is where the Tax Code field will need to be set to match the tax codes within Access Dimensions.  

You will then need to ensure that all products have the correct associated tax set within Operate (this can be done by bulk update using the update fields within product list views under Space > Products.) You can also use list views or the 'Filter' box to narrow down to the products you need to update.

This step allows you to check whether there are any unknown values on the export.

Go to Reports, in Operate, then look for the 'Un-Booked Invoice Summary' Report and open it.  

Run the report for invoices issued this month. 

This report will show you all the invoices available for export. Email to yourself and keep for reconciliation post export. Remember to record the Gross figure including VAT as this will be the total sum exported.

It is important to prevent invoices from being raised during your export otherwise this could make reconciliation very difficult as an invoice with the same date as any exported invoices could be raised but not exported.

To do this, go to the Operate Settings > Organizations > then select your organization. You can also search for 'Organizations' in the global search box next to the Operate logo to find your list of configured organizations.

Once you edit your organization, you will find a field called 'Disable Transactions on or Before', where you can set the current date. This will ensure that no invoice will be generated while you are working on the export and after it has been completed. When you are ready, save the change you made to the organization record. 

After the export, the debtor account balance should now be the sum of the starting balance and the Unbooked Invoice Summary Report total.

If it is not, investigate any failures to see which transaction is causing the difference and repeat the export.

Since Operate is only providing the downloadable file containing your data, it is not possible to know whether any of the transactions will fail to import into your accounting system. Therefore, you will need to know how this system shows import failures. 

If a transaction has failed, correct the data in Operate and then re-export it.

Failures are likely to be caused by any element listed above under "Before You Export", #3 that is not identical in both systems.

To re-export, follow the same steps above, but select to export booked transactions, then choose custom transactions, where you should find and select the one that has failed.
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